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STEWART WINS GLEN HELEN!

REED FORMS NEW TEAM
EVERTS TAKES 100TH WIN!

MOTOXXX TEAM
SHIFT GEAR
SHC RACING
RISK RACING
ETNIES MX
FREESTONE RACEWAY
AMA MOTOCROSS

THUMPSTAR AUSTRALIA HAS A NEW NAME: TERRA-MOTO! EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

WITH TIM HUNTER

THUMPSTAR PITBIKES
MOTOCROSS FITNESS
MOTO SPONSORSHIP
MC TOURS

9/16/2006
Check out this in depth interview with Timothy Hunter; the man behind Thumpstar
pitbikes, talking about the rise and transition period of China's biggest pit bike
manufacture. This is one guy who has followed his dream.
Well first of all it's been a long time since we seen you last and congratulations on the
success of Thumpstar.

MOTOCROSS NATIONALS
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CONTACT US

China Import
www.hktdc.com
Thanks. Yes, last time was back in 1987 when I was racing for Honda in Motocross and Connect with over
120,000 suppliers
was interviewed for a Mini Rider shootout.
from Hong Kong,
China and Taiwan.
So, tell us how it all started.
Well a good friend of mine attended a Trade Fair back in late 2003 and he stumbled
across a pit bike and mentioned that we should import this product. So basically we did
and it was not long after that I knew I could make one a whole lot better. So in April
2004 I signed a contract with a Taiwanese Company to help build these bikes. We used
a Chinese manufacturing plant and then it took off from there.
How did you find it working with a Chinese assembler?

Enduro touren
enduro-touring.gr
Urlaub in
Griechenland? Enduro
Tour Fr Einsteiger,
Knner und Profis!

Motorrad

Of course for a young company we had to have a partner and this has caused some
problems along the way but we have learnt from this and we have created the new Fahrertraining
Company using all of this knowledge both good and bad. It is far better to be in control www.motorrad-unte
mit Spafaktor im
of your own destiny which we now are 100%.
Raum Mnchen...
How did you guy's handle it, from nothing to over 45 million dollars of business in 13 Lernerfolg in kleinen
Gruppen
months?
With the success of Thumpstar in such a short period of time there has been several
companies follow and copy every move we make. Unfortunately some of our
infrastructure was not in place from the start to protect us from all this, but one thing
is for sure, we were watched by everyone, including the Europeans and we now have a
European investor who has taken us to the next level in business management, finance,
legalities and most of all design and development of new motorcycles.
So do you have Intellectual Property protection in place now?
Without a doubt, with the production starting for the 2007 models in August, we have
over 30 patents alone on different parts of the bikes. We have also invested heavily in
our own machinery for the manufacture of our unique components which gives us
added security. Our legal team, including several strategically placed Lawyers have the
Trademarks covered and copyright issues all wrapped up.

So if anyone does try and copy we'll have the ability to pursue it through the legal
system. And we will! I look at all the current pit bikes produced in China today and I
know somewhere on their bikes my original designs and thoughts have gone into at
least one part some where.

How many countries now purchase your bikes?

We have over 20 countries at the moment and it's growing at a steady pace. We have
opened divisions up in different regions of the world to accommodate the demand for
our product. So we have Terra-Moto Europe, Terra-Moto the Americas and Terra- Moto
Asia Pacific.
We are always on the look out for proactive professional importers who can really pull
in the business but they need to have the industry knowledge and backup to be able to
support this exciting new venture.
So the importer for Australia is who?
Stoney Creek Powersports, which was formally my parents company. Since it sold in
November 2004 the new owners have now taken the company to a level where they
distribute models that have the leading percentage of share in that sector. SCP imports
everything from Scooters, European exotic road bikes together with my products. It
was fast learning curves for the guys as they hopped on a massive wave with the
release of the Thumpstar's and have gone from strength to strength. They now tell me
they have released an interest free finance for all products they sell. This is a first in
this industry.

So, you are serious about doing more models? The multi million dollars question is
"WHAT'S NEXT"?
Well, without going into too much detail, naturally we will be having a larger dirt bike
range, catering from pit bikes to full size street legal dirt bikes. Our plan is to have 7
models, from 50cc to around 600cc over the next 12 months. China has now formally
joined the World Trade Organisation which gives us the rights to produce larger CC
engines. We are also in discussions with some of the major European motorcycle and
engine manufacturers with regards to joint venture so we can retrospectively start to
share ideas and technology which we are all very excited about.
Sounds like it's exciting times ahead for you
For sure, our investor has given us involvement in his business plan and designs for
2007 to release a range on road motorcycles which will include retro scooters,
streetfighter/naked style and motard models.
We have the next couple of years all mapped out which will bring the Terra-Moto brand
to the attention of a very wide-ranging audience and with it the success it deserves.
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